The following is the third in a little bible study started in January of this year. It has been a wonderful joy and learning experience for me. I pray that you will enjoy these lessons as much as I have!
Blessings,
Tonya
Girls of Grace Bible Study
Jochebed......Faith-filled Woman of Grace
Before we talk about Jochebed, we need to recap a little history leading up to her story ...
The children of Israel were growing in number and this scared the new king of Egypt..ex 1:9, and even though he had made them slaves, they still waxed great in number.( ex1:12)...He had ordered that the midwives kill all the male born children, but the Hebrew midwives feared The Lord more than Pharaoh, so they didn't heed to his order( ex 1:17) Pharoah then sent an order to all his people that every male child born of Hebrew was to be cast in to the river (ex 1:22)...and this is where our story begins with Moses' mother, Jochebed in Ex. 2
We have a two references to Jochebed that tell us that she is the mother of Moses ...
Exodus 6:20-21 (KJV)20And Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years.
And
Numbers 26:59 (KJV)59And the name of Amram's wife wasJochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bare to Levi in Egypt: and she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister.
In today's society, it is a tragedy to see how easy it is for a woman to throw away a life...but Jochebed, against threat of death, saves her son. We can glean some important character lessons from this great woman of God…
1. Resourcefulness ...
When Moses was born, she knew that he was a blessing from the Lord and special, she had to hide him (ex 2:2) from Pharaoh, midwives and an army that had been ordered to throw all male children born into the river ...can you imagine the undertaking this would have been? Babies cry and are very noisy...and having one in these times would not have been a task easily hidden...
God sometimes calls us to do things that we just don't think we can...what are some ways we can be resourceful?
Phil 4:13 I can do ALL things with Christ which strengthenethme!
2. Trusting...
She knew that she had to do something soon to avoid losing her son to death IN the river, so she instead makes him a protective basket and lays him BY the river (Ex 2:3-4) ... She must have had an amazing faith in God to do this. I can't imagine the kind of faith this took. To walk away, believing that your child would be taken care of somehow …
We can do our best, but ultimately, we must be like Jochebedand leave it in His hands...
What are some areas in your life that God is dealing with you to just trust him and let him protect you and place you where you need to be?
3. Willingness...
God DID protect Moses, and ironically, He used the Pharaoh's daughter to do so. (Ex 2:5-6) Miriam (Moses sister) had been watching after him all along (ex 2:4)
Miriam and Jochebed both were the most important women in Moses's life, yet they were unknown and in the background. Jochebed was willing to do things God's way and because of her humbleness and obedience, she was in her son's life and was able to see Him grow and become a great man of God!
Jochebed ended up in her son's life as His nursemaid (ex 2:7-8)She gave him life and had to let him go, totally trusting God to take care if Him and God did just that.
What are ways that God is asking you for a humble and willing obedience to Him ?
Jochebed is a wonderful example of faith and willingness to trust God in even the most frightening of circumstances. She is only mentioned briefly in scripture but has an amazing and powerful testimony. Her son eventually leads the children of Israel to freedom and to the land of Canaan. What if she hadn't had that faith? I shudder to imagine!
As we leave this study of Jochebed, may each of us meditate on the areas in our lives where we can ask of The Lord, "Increase my faith O God, help me have a willingness to be humble and serve you however you want me to” and listen intently to His voice...
I dare say we will find He will rescue our hearts from the river as well!
No comments:
Post a Comment